St. Bernadette

My motto is fast becoming "better late than never" and here is a prime example. This fine video from Zac Brakefield for TAN books.



Find more videos like this at Catholic Trailers, as well as Zac's discussion of other videos and movies, like the Vatican's top film list.

Congratulations to those on the list of "blogging chosen" for the Vatican blog-meet

The list is posted and I am delighted to see that some of the bloggers I love to read are on there such as The Anchoress, The Crescat, and Lisa Hendey. There are other bloggers I read on that list too but those are the ones I feel really connected to (and whose urls jumped out at me in a quick scan).

It looks like a really diverse list from many different places. Should be interesting for all of them!

I'm not on it, but you know I'm really all right with that. I hear there isn't a hotel room to be had for love nor money ... and I remembered that my passport is expired ... and so on.

I will get to Rome one day, perhaps, but just not right now.

Happy Catholic Book Giveaway at Catholic Mom

What makes YOU a happy Catholic?

Share in the comments by midnight on Friday, April 22, and you might win your own copy of Happy Catholic!

Go comment at Catholic Mom to get a chance to win.

Thanks again to Sarah for the wonderful review and to Lisa Hendey for giving me the heads up on this. How fun!

Scholarship Essay Contest for Teens: $1,500 Grand Prize

Theology of the Body for Teens has made its way all over the country, giving teens an authentic sense of self.  This dynamic high school program has opened up a life-giving vision for teens of love and sexuality as God intended them to be, effectively helping to renew a generation of Catholic youth.  Equipped with the truth of God’s design in their male and female identity, many of these teens are preparing to venture out as individuals and adults, able to influence their peers at colleges and universities, and later in their chosen professions.

To assist these motivated and faithful high school students, Ascension Press is sponsoring an essay contest for high school teens.  One young man and one young woman will each win the Grand Prize of $1500, plus a $500 Gift Card to Ascension Press for their parishes or schools.

To find out more, go here at Ascension Press.

A source of joy ... bringing young and old together.

The nurses quickly escorted us back to a private visiting room. They didn't even want to let Cora in. "One of our patients is violent," the nurse said. But as I looked at the assortment of women in the visiting area (most with walkers or wheelchairs), I couldn't imagine what harm might befall us and I stood my ground. "No, I'd like to take her to visit her great grandma. I have permission from her doctor." The nurse shook her head and muttered something about me being willing to put my baby at risk. I smiled politely, hugged Cora a little tighter, and walked past the main visiting area to a private room where we could sit without being "in danger."

[...]

I've never heard her laugh like she does when she's visiting my grandma. I don't know what it is… but it is joy. And it is life-giving.

Read it all at Signs of Hope.

Mrs. Darwin sez Happy Catholic is "... pretty compulsively readable."

And she adds a tribute that means a great deal to me.

I can't wait until my girls are a few years older -- Happy Catholic would be great reading for a teen trying to make sense of the shifting patterns of the world.

Thank you, Mrs. D! You may read her whole review here and she also reviews a Gregorian chant cd that sounds wonderful. I especially like that it was recorded during a storm and that you can sometimes hear the rain in the background.

I love it when someone shares the joking that they "hear" from God ...

... since it corresponds all too well to the side of Him that I know too.

From Kevin at Excuse Me Sir But You Dropped Your Cross which I discovered in commenter Fr. Cory Sticha's "followed" blogs list.

One morning at Mass, during the second communion song “Hosea,” I finished my prayer and sat back in my seat. I grabbed the bulletin. On its cover was an image and the poem “Footprints in the Sand.” As I finished reading the poem, I asked God, “What are or were you trying to tell me with this ordeal?” to which the response was “I was with you the entire time, carrying you just like it says in the poem.” Tears of joy poured out of me. I looked at Jean and started laughing uncontrollably. She was perplexed. You see, shortly after the first response came a second one. “…and my back is killing me!” 

Inspirational Christian Stories and Poems

This is an interesting site, from my pal Chris Cash, which has all sorts of stories. They are funny, sad, serious, light-hearted, and more.

Here's a sample.

A Silent Sermon

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.

Guessing the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs.

After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more.

Soon it was cold and dead. Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The Pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave, he slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday.”

~author unknown~

Check it out!

911 Wildlife's Screech-Owl Webcam

This is a screech-owl in someone's attic ... and it is nesting so it can't be moved. 911 Wildlife cleverly installed a webcam. Fascinating!

Stranger Than Fiction

Science, art, literature, wristwatches, toothbrushing, anarchists, green apples, and motion graphics.

All that and more come up for discussion when Scott and I find traces of the One Reality in the Will Farrell movie, Stranger Than Fiction, on A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Get it while it's hot!

"There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still."

In this week's A Free Mind column at Patheos I review a book that you simply must read or reread or listen to ... The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. Get it while it's hot ... it makes terrific end of Lent/Holy Week reading!

The Bishop's Hour and Happy Catholic: Today in ... about five minutes!

Some listeners call Bob Dunning a “bleeding heart liberal” while others swear he’s a right-wing conservative. ...

Dunning believes the contradictory assessments of his opinions reflect people’s perceptions of Catholicism itself. “The church’s teachings spread across the political spectrum,” he said in a recent interview with The Herald. “Who decided that being pro-life was a conservative position?” “I’m also against the death penalty,” he added, “which seems to mark me as a liberal.”

The church teaches respect for human life and the dignity of the human person, Dunning observed, yet Catholics can be divided on specific applications church teaching. “To me, being against capital punishment and against abortion under any circumstances is a consistent ethical position, but not all Catholics agree,” he said.

From what I can tell, Bob Dunning is my kind of guy and very probably a happy Catholic.

I'll find out very soon! Sorry for the lack of notice but my days have been crazy, y'all.

Happy.

But crazy.

Here's more information.

The Church is Full of Sinners: This is not new.

Let’s see now: we’ve got a Sunday night series on one of the most corrupt and tawdry families in Church history, the Borgias, with popes, cardinals, bishops, and priests, all part of this big, happy family; we’ve heard non-stop for a decade about abusive priests, (albeit a small minority) and lax bishops who reassigned them; we’ve got front page stories of priests who embezzled money from their parishes; and I saw one not long ago about a priest arrested for DUI.

Yes, all this is scandalous, sinful, sickening, and criminal.

But, it is not new.

Popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, nuns, brothers are human.

That means, we are sinners.

Granted, when one of us falls, it hurts and shocks more. People rightly expect their spiritual leaders to practice what we preach. When we don’t, we’re hypocrites. And we know what Jesus thought about hypocrites.

But, this is not new.

If you think it worse today than in the past, I ask you to consider the solemn days we will observe next week, Holy Week: Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

Within an hour or so after Jesus had ordained His very first bishops and priests — the twelve apostles — what happened? They fell asleep when He asked them to pray with Him; one betrayed Him for thirty silver coins; one — the first Pope — denied three times even knowing Him; and all but one, the youngest, ran away scared at the time He most needed them. That lonely loyal one, St. John, was there with our blessed Mother at the foot of the cross on a hill called Calvary on a Friday strangely called “good.”

Not a very good start for bishops and priests. Within a few hours after their ordination, 11/12 had abandoned Him. That’s a worse record than even the Mets!

Archbishop Dolan hits one out of the park ... and this is just the beginning of the article. Go read it all.

You too? I thought I was the only one!

Sometimes xkcd scares me. Or we're soul mates. Whichever.

Lino at Large and Happy Catholic: tonight at 7 p.m. (Eastern time)

Lino at Large is a 30 minute radio show which is one of the most popular Catholic podcasts in the country. This fast-paced program geared toward young adults is brought to you by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

I remember waaaaay back in 2007 getting to chat with Lino Rulli a few times and it was always fun.

I mean, you've got to love a guy who has a bobblehead in his store. Right?

And I hear he's got 7 Dumb Questions to ask me.

This is gonna be fun.

Or something. (But I'm counting on fun ...)

And we'll probably talk about books. Just a little. One book anyway.

Guess which one?

Yeah, I figured you'd guess.

My perfect wallpaper

How well Rose knows me ... yes, I will be putting this on my laptop.

Not that I'm obsessed with Serenity or Firefly.

Heather Ordover on Happy Catholic: "You don't have to be Catholic to enjoy it."

I'm rather behind on podcast listening.

However, if nothing else I always look at the show notes for episodes that I haven't gotten to yet, to make sure I don't miss what's going on with my pals (yes, that's how I think of them).

I know that Heather Ordover at the CraftLit podcast (a podcast for crafters who like books) is moving and so keep up with that part of her life on the podcast, though I will catch up on the literary part later.

So, I was surprised and gratified to see that she had a link to Happy Catholic. When I listened I was even more gratified.

Heather is talking to knitters and book lovers, certainly not to a faith-based audience. She gave this a tribute that made me grateful (and happy, always happy of course), but which relieved a worry of mine. Because I knew that non-Catholics, heck non-Christians, might get this book. (Let's just start with my own family for that matter.) I have my own point of view, which is valid, of course, but I don't want to trample other people while I'm expressing it. Heather makes me hopeful that I might have been able to pull it off.

There is more, but here is the essence of it:

Just in case you thought this book was for Catholics only, I would like to read a small selection.  On page 43 it says, "Why Do You Think They Call It Willpower, Old Chum?"  And who does she quote to launch her into her little mini-essay here?

Robin:  Self-control is sure tough sometimes, Batman!
Batman: All virtues are, old chum. Indeed, that’s why they’re virtues.

And that's a quote from the Batman TV series.

Remember this is Happy Catholic: Glimpses of God in Everyday Life ... quoting Batman. This is why I love Julie. And her essay is really quite lovely as well. ...

I don't actually think you have to be Catholic to enjoy it. I am not Catholic and I am enjoying it. But part of that is because wisdom is wisdom, you know? And she's drawing wisdom from all sorts of great places and commenting on it and giving us her own particular slant on it.

This is from Episode 204 of CraftLit if you want to listen for yourself. It is the first thing she talks about, for which I am also grateful. Thank you Heather! (For an autographed copy, go here. I include a favorite quote that didn't make it into the book, as well.)

By the way, if you love classic literature and don't listen to CraftLit then drop by and try it out. CraftLit is one of my top five favorite podcasts. I hate to rank them other than that because ... I don't think I can. They're all just that good and CraftLit is one that you won't be sorry you tried.

Now I'm Going to Have to Watch Gold Rush

Thanks to Rose who pointed out this adorable and funny little dance after yesterday's art featured the Gold Rush poster.

I feel the need to say that the interwebs are a wonderful place.

Where else would I get the chance to chat with an author I admire (Steve Hockensmith) about his podcasting of some of his short stories on the Ellery Queen magazine and Alfred Hitchcock magazine podcasts?

While getting a review copy for my Kindle of his new collection of Dear Mr. Holmes, the Holmes on the Range short stories?

All thanks to Tweet and email.

God bless the ether!

By the way, if you haven't come across the Holmes on the Range stories, they are wonderful. A clever pastiche on Holmes because they are written about the cow punching brothers who admire the Holmes stories  they read in the papers. I am listening to the first novel now and loving it.

The Curt Jester: "I simply loved this book."

Nothing could have made me happier!

Unless it was the rest of Jeff's review of Happy Catholic.

Now Julie is a self-confessed book skimmer in that she often will skim through a book and then come back later and re-read it. I am not as much of a book skimmer and certainly did not skim through this book for fear of overlooking a good nugget. It also did not hurt that Julie pulled her quotes from areas and sources I also love. To have a book quoting Alice Cooper (now an Evangelical), Futurama, Firefly, SF Movies, and a vast swath of culture not in the SF realm is certainly to my taste, but her reflections should benefit all.

I simply loved this book. ...

Jeff is a logical and analytical thinker who loves the Church and loves books. Plus I read his blog before I had one of my own. So to say his review gladdened my heart is a huge understatement.

He even included a quote by me that he liked. That put me over the moon!

There is much more so if you are considering buying the book, you may be interested in reading the whole thing. Certainly I will be doing so several more times.

Thank you Jeff!